BW issues
postseason ban for
all sports

By jeffrey zupanic
The ReviewPublished: October 31, 2012 3:00AM

Baldwin Wallace essentially controlled its own destiny if it wanted to return to the football playoffs this season. First, they had to beat No. 1 Mount Union this Saturday then beat previously undefeated Heidelberg while Mount Union loses to John Carroll next week and they would have secured the Ohio Athletic Conference's automatic bid.

That possibility was taken away Tuesday when the university self-reported to the NCAA that it incorrectly awarded financial aid to a number of student-athletes and thus issued a one-year postseason ban for all sports for the 2012-13 school year.

"Recently mistakes in the application of NCAA regulations to the awarding of financial aid to a small percentage of our student-athletes have come to light," Robert C. Helmer said in a released statement. "Baldwin Wallace University has always stood for the highest standards of integrity. For that reason, we have notified the NCAA that we are withdrawing from any consideration of postseason play for our athletic teams during the 2012-13 academic year. This was a difficult decision to make, but one that would certainly be expected of us by the NCAA."

The ban also prohibits all sports teams from participating in any OAC tournaments this year. The conference postseason ban gets a little hairy considering the Yellow Jackets will still compete in all regular-season sports but their spots in the standings will be thrown out at the conclusion of each season. It is not known whether the OAC office will just move each team up in the standings. A call to the conference office was not returned on Tuesday.

Currently, there are three OAC tournaments under way, which the ruling has impacted.

In women's soccer, John Carroll receives a semifinal bye and will face the winner of Otterbein and Ohio Northern for the championship. In men's soccer, Wilmington and John Carroll will now face off in the semifinals. The biggest impact comes in the volleyball tournament, which begins tonight after the bad weather pushed back the start from Tuesday.

Mount Union earned the No. 1 seed as a result of going undefeated in the regular season conference play and will host Muskingum while Otterbein and Capital meet in the 2-7 matchup. The 4-5 pairings are Marietta vs. Heidelberg while the 3-6 would have been Ohio Northern and Baldwin Wallace. Since the OAC has decided not to reseed or undo the current brackets, the Polar Bears automatically earn a bye to the semifinals and only have to win two matches for the title while the other six schools will need to win three times.

Since football has no postseason tournament, the regular season champion earns the trip to the playoffs. Should there be a tie for first place involving BW, they will forfeit their right to play in the postseason and the other team will earn the berth. A three-way tie for first place will start with head-to-head competition between the other two schools before moving down the conference standings until the tie is broken.

The Yellow Jackets (7-1, 6-1) are ranked No. 15 in the latest AFCA coaches poll entering their matchup with the Purple Raiders, who have won 17 straight in the series and can lock up at least a share of a 21st consecutive OAC championship.

All Baldwin Wallace can do now is play the role of spoiler after Tuesday's news. The possibility remains that BW could be levied further sanctions by the NCAA, which is conducting its own investigation into the matter.

"The University is obligated as an NCAA member to examine any possible failure to maintain full compliance and to take appropriate corrective action. Over the coming months, we will work cooperatively with the NCAA to determine a final resolution of the situation," said Helmer.